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God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

This is a reading age – and as books are cheap, largely read, and easily procurable, the press has come to embrace a wider circle and to possess a greater influence on the public mind than any other medium of communication. The Christian press has spread itself in all directions, and exercises an influence scarcely inferior to that of the pulpit. Works, therefore, written by gracious men, whether living or dead, may be viewed as exercising a ministry of their own, running, as it were, parallel to that of the pulpit, and in harmony with it – but possessing the advantage of penetrating into places, and speaking on occasions where the voice of the living preacher cannot come, as well as of being accessible at all times, lying silently and unobtrusively on the table or the bookshelf, ready to be taken up or laid down at pleasure – and, if we have well chosen them, our trustiest friends and wisest counselors, who will always tell us the truth without fear and without flattery.
J.C. Philpot

To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe.
John Stott

    • Falling away from God

    Posted on

    There’s an interesting article “How the Internet Is Taking Away America’s Religion” providing some details from the General Social Survey – a widely respected sociological survey carried out by the University of Chicago.

    The study notes that 53% of the population spends two hours per week online and 25% surfed for more than 7 hours/wk.  And since 1990, there’s a 10% drop in religious affiliation in the United States.  Not all the causes have been determined.

    I’d like to highlight some comments left on the article:

    1. Sure you can seek for answers in religion, but google is a lot easier and a lot more reliable.
      1. God says his word never returns empty results.  When it has truthful answers, the Internet is a great way to find them.  But some people are still looking for the truth among the evidence, and speak too soon about their conclusions.  That is the state of some scientists today, who promote their conclusions before really getting all the evidence rationalized.  An answer that only partially solves the challenge is not an adequate answer.  Jesus said he is the way, truth, and life.
    2. established religion … needs to be founded on something better than pure belief. It needs to offer an experience that anyone who is interested can experience for themselves.
      1. God isn’t a dog who does tricks on demand.  What he did do, is see our inability to save ourselves from self-destruction and provide a means for rescue, so we could be with him forever.  Even though Jesus did many visible miracles (high level experience for onlookers), some people still refused to believe.  God’s demonstrated love, in the form of Jesus was an expression of intense love that he still expresses to people individually (low-level) when they look for him.
      2. The assurance of forgiveness and salvation is an experience anyone can have.  But the Way Jesus demonstrated is a relationship with God (why spend forever with someone you don’t like?) and some people aren’t willing to lay aside their personal gods to be with God.
    3. multiculturalism is also a huge factor. … I started to see that these people had a very different faith from me, yet had just as much reason to believe it as I did.
      1. Jesus said “even the demons believe”.  Passion and dedication can be demonstrated by anyone for anything.  But until you have experienced God loving you so deeply, and personally, that he cares to remake your life and give you purpose and peace…nothing compares.
    4. Something that seems obvious but has been missed was the simple answer that maybe these people were not religious originally, but felt it was unacceptable to be so, so they simply lied about it.
      1. Jesus told a story about seed planted on shallow, rocky, and good soil.  How deep is your love for God?  When the world is brought into your room, are you able to handle the challenges by turning to Him for guidance as to where you surf, and how/who you engage?
    5. The rise of the internet is enabling such a rapid spread of ideas that religion is evolving faster than new religious societies can emerge, faster than old religious societies can organize their members.
      1. If religion has to evolve in response to the Internet, was it untruthful or misrepresenting something in the first place?  Or was it a shallow tradition with no depth of relationship with God, and people got more excited by socializing online than socializing in a church club?  God’s church isn’t supposed to be this way – but I think any church should consider reaching out to Internet crowds just as we should be with the neighbors we meet in person.
    6. …the traditional Christian “gospel” is now preached almost exclusively in churches, where only those who are raised in the church are likely to hear it.
      1. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

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